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Viewer Question:

My 7 week old daughter has had noisy breathing since birth. Sometimes it has a harsh nasal sound, other times it seems to come from the chest. The sound ranges from gurgling to almost a croaking sound. Her
pediatrician suggests that this is due to a narrowing of the air passageways and that the trachea needed to strengthen. She has some retraction in the area of the trachea. Are you familiar with this condition and is there any treatment? How long can I expect this to persist?

Doctor's Response:

The condition that you describe in which there is a narrowing in her larynx (voice box) is called laryngomalacia.

Laryngomalacia is a condition whereby the cartilage in her larynx is soft and with inspiration she tend to breath deeply and thus pull in on the cartilage support type walls of the voice box and thus narrow the windpipe.

Presuming your child cries with a normal (not hoarse) voice and did not need any sort of
instrumentation done as a newborn (e.g., put down a intubation tube into her windpipe secondary to
meconium at birth), no real other evaluations are necessary besides a good and thorough examination by her
pediatrician.

If symptoms should worsen significantly or she does not meet the above criteria, then a pediatric ENT doctor would be the place to go.